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The Titanic is to set sail again after an Australian billionaire announced plans to build a similar ship with the same name.

Clive Palmer unveiled blueprints in New York of the new vessel he hopes will not suffer the same fate as its namesake, which sank more than 100 years ago.

Australian billionaire Clive Palmer speaks during a news conference about his intention to build the Titanic II (Picture: AP)

‘We all live on this planet, we all breathe the same air and, of course, the Titanic is about the things we’ve got in common. It links three continents,’ he said at the event at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

The property and coal magnate said there had been huge interest in the project with 40,000 people already expressing an interest in buying tickets for ship’s first voyage.

Titanic II’s Grand Staircase will look just like the old one if this computer image is anything to go by (Picture: EPA)

The new Titanic will take the same ill-fated journey from Southampton to New York its predecessor did when it went down on April 15, 1912.

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Passengers will also don period outfits and eat from a menu serving meals from that era.

The original Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 (Picture: PA)

Only 700 people of the more than 2,200 on board the original ship survived the disaster but the designers of the new boat promise it will be ‘safest cruise ship in the world’.

Mr Palmer, who is worth an estimated £2.6bn added: ‘I want to spend the money I’ve got before I die.

‘You might as well spend it, not leave it to the kids to spend, there will be enough left for them anyway.’

Palmer wants to go incognito during the trip (Picture: AP)

The replica ship will carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board (Picture: EPA)

Titanic II’s Grand Staircase is designed to look just like the original (Picture: EPA)

A handout photograph provided by Blue Star Line shows a computer generated image of the Titanic II’s Gymnasium (EPA)

A handout photograph provided by Blue Star Line shows a computer generated image of the Titanic II’s Gymnasium (EPA)

A handout photograph provided by Blue Star Line shows a computer generated image of the Titanic II’s swimming pool (Reutuers)

A handout photograph provided by Blue Star Line shows a computer generated image of the Titanic II’s Turkish Bath (EPA)